The European Union regulates the use of products manufactured by certain technical processes which act as direct or indirect protein sources and are put into circulation within the Community as feedingstuffs or in feedingstuffs.

The basic Directive concerns products manufactured by certain technical processes which act as direct or indirect protein sources and are put into circulation within the European Union (EU) as feedingstuffs or in feedingstuffs. Specifically, these are substitution products developed by the feedingstuffs industry.

Since these products are obtained using new manufacturing techniques, it is necessary to regulate their marketing in the EU as feedingstuffs or constituents of feedingstuffs by prescribing, for each group concerned, which individual products are authorised and under what conditions of use.

Before including a new product in one of the groups concerned, it must be ascertained that it has the required nutritional value. It must also be established that these products, when used sensibly, have no detrimental effect on human or animal health or on the environment and do not harm the consumer by impairing the distinctive features of animal products.

In certain cases it is essential to provide for labelling to protect the user against fraud and to facilitate the optimal use of the products available to him.

The products in question are listed in the annex. Provision has been made for a Community procedure to adapt the provisions of the annex and the guidelines laid down for the submission of dossiers relating to certain products and, where necessary, to fix criteria of composition and purity as well as the physico-chemical and biological properties of these products in the light of the development of scientific and technical knowledge. In the event of amendment of the annex, the European Food Safety Authority must be consulted.

Member States must prescribe that the products listed in the annex may not be marketed as feedingstuffs or incorporated in feedingstuffs unless any particulars laid down in the annex appear on the package or container or on a label attached thereto.